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Chatham-Kent declares state of emergency amid flooding

Chatham-Kent has declared a state of emergency as the Thames River is expected to peak near Thamesville between 6-9pm. Here Amber Hawkins checks out a car parked in the rear of a downtown Chatham home near the river. Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

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The wall of water coursing down Southwestern Ontario’s spine from torrential rain and massive snow melt triggered a state of emergency in Chatham-Kent on Friday, leaving a voluntary evacuation for Thamesville in its wake as low-lying Chatham nearby braced for what could be an historic hit.

Chatham-Kent moved to help evacuees by opening its convention centre in Chatham for anyone forced to leave their homes, with some residents already arriving late in the day.

Mayor Randy Hope implored residents of Thamesville, 25 kilometres upriver of Chatham on the Thames River, to leave while daylight still allowed an evacuation, and asked drivers to respect road-closings where floodwaters might conceal hidden dangers.

“We’re asking people to take precautionary measures,” Hope said, noting backyards in the town of about 900 were already flooding and areas along Highway 2 nearby were charged with water from the swollen river.

Firefighters went door-to-door encouraging Thamesville residents to leave, while Chatham — a city armed with flooding defences like few others in Ontario, including a water-diversion channel — braced for what one official said could be on par with its worst flood more than 30 years ago if heavy rain persists.

“Yes, we’ve seen flooding in the past, but this one we project to be quite different,” Hope said. “We are encouraging people to take this situation quite seriously.

“We know it’s coming. It’s just a matter of the time frame for when it hits.”

The river level in Thamesville was about five metres higher than its normal level, with the area conservation authority warning the water could rise another 1.3 to 1.6 metres.

“If we get more rain it could pose a huge problem with flooding downstream similar to the 1985 flood (the worst in recent history),” said Bonnie Carey of the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA).

Despite the soggy fallout, which caused flooding in upriver communities including London earlier this week, many residents of Thamesville seemed hesitant to leave — even without heat, since Union Gas, the region’s natural gas utility, had disconnected many homes as a safety precaution.

“People are reluctant to go because they don’t like leaving the home,” Chatham-Kent assistant fire chief Chris Case said. “The gas has been turned off to most of the properties in Thamesville now.”

Case said he wasn’t authorized to say now many people had evacuated Thamesville.

“Our crews are out knocking on doors. They’ve been doing so since 11:30 this morning.”

Flood warnings were issued for areas drained by both the Thames and Sydenham rivers in the area, a region that — together with the city of Chatham — makes up Chatham-Kent, a far-flung municipality of 100,000 that borders Lake St. Clair to the east and Lake Erie to the south.

The last time a state of emergency was declared in Wallaceburg, on the Sydenham, was in 2009.

Downstream dikes along the Thames were already at 95 per cent capacity and could be overwhelmed by more rainfall, Carey said.

Ten to 20 mm of rainfalll are expected in the region this weekend, but that’s mainly south of Lake Erie — meaning Chatham — where roughly half the population lives — might yet be spared the worst.

Evacuees were being asked to take 72 hours’ worth of medication and personal supplies with them, said Hope, since the water could remain high for several days.

In the Thamesville area, some residents appeared to be taking the situation in stride — two men were spotted in a canoe, paddling through the fallout with one hoisting a drink.

Others were more serious.

Abby Sellen and her boyfriend, Garrison Renders, were clearing out the basement and setting up a pump.

“We don’t want to leave if we don’t have to. I want to stay and watch the house,” Sellen said, noting her parents are in Jamaica.

Mae Schilbe was waiting for more information, but said she agreed with the precautions.

“Better safe than sorry,” she said.

The flooding in Southwestern Ontario, the worst in decades, triggered a state of emergency earlier this week in Brantford, where three neighbourhoods were evacuated because of the swollen Grand River, and threatened Port Bruce along Lake Erie, southeast of St. Thomas, where a key bridge over what had been an ice-jammed Catfish Creek collapsed Friday as a dump truck tried to drive across it.

One lucky break for Chatham is that there are no ice jams at the mouth of the Thames River at Lake St. Clair, which in the past have backed up water in the river and aggravated flooding nearby.

At least half a metre of water is expected in low-lying areas near King Street, downtown, and in other areas including William, Water and Salter streets.

CHATHAM DEFENCES

Besides a flood-diversion channel, the city is protected by a downtown pumping station and flood gate.

WHAT OTHERS SAID

Chatham-Kent fire and paramedic Chief Bob Crawford said it’s tough to determine how long the flooding will last, but affected residents should take all precautions, including for personal safety, belonging and pets. “You have to take the steps to try and ease the effects,” he said.

The region is paying the price for heavy rain — a month’s worth fell in mere days in the London area — and a massive snow melt triggered by soaring temperatures earlier this week, said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. Ice jams on waterways only made things worse. “We had places in the snowbelt that got a lot of snow and it all got released into the watershed in a short period of time."